Shadow Child
by DorkPangs
Summary: about how the fate of Hyrule rests upon one girl's unkown past. of course, Link and ZeldaSheik are in the story as well...
1. Main Page

Shadow child  
  
By: Green_Beauty  
  
Anything that came from OoT is not mine (such as the Lost Woods, the Gerudo Fortress, Link, Zelda, and almost all of Hyrule) for that belongs to Nintendo, but characters or places not from the series (Luna, Tanya, the Hero's Stadium, The Phoenix Pub) belong to me, and it will not be tolerated if someone uses my characters in their fics. And if some one wants to do art for one of my characters or places, ask first, and you will most likely get permission.  
  
Now that the legal stuff is over with, let me tell you a little about this story. There are several main characters in this story, and we shall go into their point of view at certain points of the story, but the story is always told from 3rd person omniscient. And this story (everyone and everything in Hyrule) revolves about one girl's unknown past. Also, this is, in fact, an Alternate Universe. I added humans into the mix of Hyrule. Here's a brief bio about a few of my main characters so far. Notice that since this story is not finished this page may be edited more than once, so always keep an eye on it.  
  
1) Style: a stalkid of the Lost Woods, who was a doctor when he was human. Values other lives over his own.  
  
2) Saber: a stalkid who was only 8 years of age when he got lost in the Lost Woods. Can no longer remember his old life as a human, and sometimes his memories haunt him in his sleep.  
  
3) Luna: a human who was given to the Gerudo by a mysterious cloaked man. She knows nothing other than that of where she came from, and also, since she is not a true Gerudo, she is always picked on by the other Gerudo women. Despite this factor, she has become a renowned sword dancer in the Gerudo Fortress. Her best and only real friend is the flirtatious Gerudo sword dancer, Tanya.  
  
4) Tanya: a Gerudo who is the peppy daughter of the owner of the Phoenix Pub and is best friends with Luna. She is quick to anger, and very competitive. She always sticks up for her human friend and will support her in whatever she does. She is also very blunt when it comes to the truth, and especially when it hurts.  
  
5) Jak: Is a Hyrulian. When Jak was only four, his parents were slaughtered by a Shadowbeast, a creature who only appears after a 'child of death' is born and kills all it happens to encounter until the child is either dead or leaves the area in which it was born. Jak was adopted by the King's sister and is part of the royal family. He is racist towards humans, for he blames them for the death of his parents, and is very rude, yet serious all the time. Is the best friend of Patch, who loosens him up enough to joke around a little (however little it might be), and is very protective over his rebellious cousin, Princess Zelda, and is always looking for her when she disappears from the castle.  
  
6) Patch: Is a Hyrulian who loves to flirt with women, but is secretly searching for 'the one'. He likes strong women, in particular, and he has had many girlfriends before. He jokes around all the time and never takes anything seriously, and is perhaps the exact opposite of Jak, yet is best friends with him. Patch is almost never nosy when it comes to Jak's business and past, and therefore, knows almost nothing of Jak's secrets because he feels that Jak will tell him when he is ready.  
  
7) Sheik: Is the half-Sheikah, half-Hyrulian princess in disguise, for she does not want to go home where she is restricted by her father and her guardian, Impa. Her adopted cousin is the serious Jak, who has only told her his past; they are close, almost like brother and sister, and Jak is very protective over her. He disapproves of her rebellious spirit and will always make her go home to the Hyrule Castle if he catches her elsewhere. Pretends to be a man who is mute, yet can speak Tunwabe (the language where you click your tongue), and who can play the harp. Is witty, yet secretive, and there are some things that even her best friend, Link, does not even know about.  
  
8) Link: is a Hyrulian who was sent on a secret mission to find a human woman for a secret power that even his best friend, Sheik, doesn't know about. Is very trusting, and very witty with all he meets. Ever since he experienced going through time to save a world that didn't even remember his saving it, he has resorted to drinking away his depression, and has been an alcoholic since he was 10. He is a warrior who finds ways to test himself every chance he gets. Has had a few bad relationships, for he could never stay committed to his girlfriend since he was always on the road, and isn't looking for one presently. He has also lived in the forbidden Lost Woods for most of his life, but was banished when he lost his fairy friend, Navi, when he went through time; he is not allowed to return until he comes back with her. 


	2. Prologue

Prologue  
  
The bruised, cut-up, very fat woman with blonde hair, green eyes, and ragged black clothing was very lost, as the stalchild could tell. It surprised him to see a human here, for all humans were dead-afraid of this forest, mainly because of tricksters like him. As the woman had passed his sleeping spot, he had remained quiet as to not get her attention. Since that moment, which was an hour ago, he decided he would follow her and see what she was up to.  
  
For the last ten minutes she had been going in circles, and it was highly irritating the creature. As the woman finally chose a different pass, she fell in pain. She screamed and she seemed to pass out. This behavior was very strange to him, and then it occurred to him that she may be dying. He hurried over to the woman, and very frenziedly pulled out his self-made wooden flute and played a ghastly song. He then picked up the woman by the arms and dragged her over to a nearby rock and leaned her against it. He then heard an eerie sound, and knew someone was coming, hopefully someone who knew what to do. Suddenly from the nearby bushes, a stalchild popped out.  
  
"What is it Saber?" the other stalchild said before noticing the human. "What have you done? You know it is against our laws to—"  
  
"I didn't do anything! She just fell, screamed, and kind of passed out. I think she's dying, if she's already not dead. What do we do, Style?" Saber urgently interrupted.  
  
"You are so naive, can't you see this woman is pregnant?" he said checking the woman's pulse.  
  
"You mean she's having a baby? I guess that explains why she's so fat," Saber said considering.  
  
"This isn't too good. I don't think she'll make—"  
  
He was interrupted as the woman shrieked and grabbed hold of Style's hand and gripped. Style was in immense pain and screamed along with the pregnant woman as Saber tried to pry Style's hand from her hold. Just as Saber was considering kicking the woman, she let go and started breathing very hard. Style jerked his hand away and kissed it as he glared at the woman. The human looked up and appeared very frightened by the two stalchildren sitting beside her.  
  
"Who-what are you?" she said shakily, "Never mind, just go! Leave me be! Before it's too late!"  
  
The two stalchildren looked at one another, surprised at what the woman urgently told them, then Saber said, "Fine let's go Style," and then turned to walk away, but Style did not budge. "Style, aren't you coming?"  
  
"You are in critical condition; you and your child may not survive. What is it that would scare you so much that you just don't care?" Style asked the woman.  
  
"Can't you see that I'm human? Look at my ears! This child is sure to have round ears as well, and you know that all humans are slaves for the Hyrulians. I just... can't let this child be treated like a piece of rubbish like I am," the woman sobbed and then screamed at another contraction.  
  
"That's not it," Style said as soon as the woman's cries subsided, "you're afraid of something. Being human, you should at least know that stalchildren can smell fear. What is it that scares you?"  
  
The woman cried again, because of another contraction, and then said, "I hate you magical creatures; can't you just leave me alone!"  
  
"Style, this is none of our business, let's go!" Saber said reaching for the other's hand.  
  
Style wrenched his hand from Saber and angrily said, "I'm not going anywhere until that child is born! Either you can help me or leave me to risk my soul for the child, which will it be?"  
  
Saber just nodded and then said to the mother, "You do know that if a stalchild sees a dying being, they are allowed to give their soul away so that the being may live. The only problem with that is that the stalchild dies in the process..." the woman looked positively terrified and then screamed with another contraction.  
  
"You can't save the child, you just can't..." she cried.  
  
"Why? Why in the hell can't we save this child? I don't buy that bit about slavery; just tell me what's wrong!" Style yelled at the woman who was again screaming with another contraction.  
  
She looked around, as though looking for another option, and then sighed and answered Style's question, "I can't tell you. If I could I would, but since it seems that I'm going to die, I need you to promise me that you will give her to the Gerudos. They are the only people who will take an abandoned child in. It needs to learn to fight, to protect itself. Please! It needs to know love, and unfortunately, I can't give that to it."  
  
"I promise you that the child shall reach the Gerudo encampment, but don't you want to live?"  
  
"No, I couldn't live with myself for what I have done to it," she said peacefully and then had another contraction, which soon led to the birth of the woman's daughter. 


	3. 14 Years Later

14 years later...  
  
"C'mon Luna!" said the always excited teenage Gerudo who loved to participate in the Hero Games.  
  
"Hold up, Tanya!" said the tired blonde Gerudo who had just woken up.  
  
"You shouldn't have come to the party with me last night. Now look at you, all groggy from the punch," said Tanya shaking her head as she waited for Luna.  
  
"What! You drank it too Ms. Peppy!" she said waking up.  
  
"Well you can't hold that much beer, albino Gerudo," said Tanya laughing at Luna's poor retort.  
  
"I could drink you under the table anytime, and then dance circles around that pretty little head of yours, while you would still be laughing at the joke I had told you the night before."  
  
"Oh, why don't you two just shut up! You two losers are going to be late, again, if you don't run," yelled an adult Gerudo nearby.  
  
"Sorry Master Jade," yelled back Tanya and the turned to Luna to say, "I'm not waiting for you again, let's go!" and then ran off toward the coliseum.  
  
As she hurried alongside Tanya, she thought about what had happened last year. Every year the Gerudos held the Hero Games which had several different tournaments. Almost all Gerudos participated, as well as: Gorons, Zoras, Hyrulians, and the ever so rare, free humans. The youngest age that one must be to participate is at least 13. It had been her first time and she had been late. Tanya and she had hurried to start off in the tag-team tournament, which was the only one that had not started because somebody vomited on the arena, because they got first fight jitters. So, when the old Gerudo janitor finished, they got to start.  
  
The first team they had to fight against was a couple of male Hyrulians named Patch and Jak. Patch was perhaps two years older than she was, probably 15 like Tanya, with black hair and smiling crystal-blue eyes and Jak looked like he was probably 18 or so, with brunette hair and dark brown intelligent eyes. When they had seen her, they laughed demanding to call off the hoax. They had been told that they were going to face against two Gerudos, not a human.  
  
And that was true, she was human, but she was raised with Gerudos making her one of them. Everyone was really angry at the two men, and not just because they were insulting, but also because they were men. The Gerudo race consists entirely of red-headed, tall, dark-skinned women. Only once in every 100 years was there a tall, red-haired, dark-skinned male Gerudo born to the female race, and supposedly there was one running around, according to rumor of course.  
  
Most, if not all, Gerudos consider all men, who are not a Gerudo, selfish pigs. Of course there are the few rare men (of a different race) who join the 'Gerudo clan', but that can only be done by defeating the chief of the tribe in combative sparring. She remembered that there was a blonde, Hyrulian, teenage boy that had defeated Nabooru four years ago. She wondered, from time to time, whatever had happened to the boy.  
  
After a bunch of arguing with Patch and Jak, they had gotten on with the fight and had won. Afterward, the lousy men had shaken Tanya's hand, but left without looking at Luna who had her hand out. They were beaten in the third round by a team of a Goron, named Dusty, and a Zora, named Spear. So they did not get to compete for the one-on-one melee tournament. Only those who had been in either the finals or the semi-finals got to compete in that. And you had to sign up before hand and that cost about fifty rupees just for consideration.  
  
As Tanya and she ran through the archway of the coliseum, Luna hoped that the pig-headed Hyrulians would not be here today. 


	4. The Pigs

The Pigs...  
  
"Hurry up, we're going to be late!" yelled the black-haired Hyrulian to his friend, who was behind a couple of bushes.  
  
"Geez Patch, can't I go to the bathroom without being hollered at!" he yelled back.  
  
"Not when there's a possibility that we could be disqualified for not being there when it started; so get a move on Jak!"  
  
"Alright, Alright," Jak said as he buttoned his pants and ran from the bushes, past his friend, and yelled, "I'll beat you there!"  
  
"Cheater!" Patch accused as he ran to catch up with his partner. Jak reached the archway and came to a sudden halt.  
  
As Patch stumbled into him, and he angrily asked, "What'd you stop for?"  
  
"Look," Jak said and pointed to a Gerudo and a blonde, human woman at the front of the long sign-up line, who were presently signing up to start the tag-team tournament.  
  
"It's them again," Patch said.  
  
"I didn't think I would ever figure that out, best-friend-who-states-the- obvious-way-too-much."  
  
"Yea, yea, but what are we going to do about it this year?"  
  
"We can't do anything about it, but we probably won't have to face them this time."  
  
"What do you mean? I think—"  
  
"Just look at the line behind them," Jak interrupted, "we won't have to face them 'till perhaps the finals, if they even make it that far."  
  
Patch nodded and said, "Let's go sign up then!" and ran to the back of the long line.  
  
Even as Jak followed Patch, he knew this year he would face off against the human again. He thought all humans didn't even deserve to live, especially this one. And he knew he would end up smothering this one's life out, like he was destined to smother all their pathetic life-forces.  
  
As Patch looked back at his friend he saw the blonde Gerudo just beyond Jak's shoulder. He knew his friend had a strong resentment against all humans, but Patch wasn't like that. He thought that it was wrong to judge a creature without even knowing what it was like. Besides, he thought humans were interesting, especially their legends and religions. And of all humans he had ever met, he felt this one was special. Maybe it was the girl's looks that intrigued him, or maybe her strength, or maybe it was her stormy eyes... whatever it was, it seemed to put Luna the human on a pedestal in his mind's eye. 


	5. The Package

The Package...  
  
"That was easy," Luna said to Tanya as they walked off the circular arena together.  
  
"You would have thought two Gorons would have been tougher than that," Tanya agreed.  
  
"Yeah, I can't believe we won just by dodging a—" Luna started saying, but something short bumped into her. As she turned around to tell the thing to watch where it was going, but she saw two crystal clear blue eyes staring into hers. She noticed it was a male Hyrulian that looked around 10 or so, was clad in green, and was heading toward the chief Gerudo, and chief judge, Nabooru.  
  
"Sorry," gruffed the little boy as he continued on his way, but stopped dead and looked back. He then returned to Luna and said in the same gruff voice, "Are you a Gerudo?"  
  
Instantly she said, "Yes, what do you want?"  
  
"Here," he said and handed her a package and then took off in the opposite direction of Nabooru.  
  
She looked at the brown package and then looked at Tanya who said, "If you don't open it, I will."  
  
Luna headed into the village (which was more of a fort than a village) and ran to her apartment of a tall building and closed the door quickly behind her, all the while, Tanya was following her, impatient to see what was in the package.  
  
It was a decent sized apartment, especially for a Gerudo of her rank (that being of a sword dancer). There were three rooms in her apartment: the living room, the bedroom, and the bathroom. She didn't have a kitchen because she brought all her food home, but the food she did have was kept in the cupboards on the left side of the living room. There were four small cupboards on the left side of the wall: one for the food and a keg of water, one for bed sheets and towels, one for weapons and their leather sheaths along with leather bags, and one locked with an unbreakable lock (it was given to her by Nabooru at her Independence Ceremony) that held her most precious items. And opposite of the cupboard-filled wall, were two windows.  
  
She had never bought or arranged the furniture in any sort of way since she moved in. The only things she put in there were the pictographs in their frames and the family crests. In the center of the room was a zebra rug with a black sofa and a black coffee table on it, all the wooden furniture was black-finished, above each doorway was family crest that showed a phoenix clutching a sword in each talon, wooden shelves with pictographs of Luna, Tanya, and Luna's foster mother. Anything that was of real value was stuck in the locked cupboard, because the entire Gerudo race was a bunch of thieves. It was more or less in their blood to steal, but being human, Luna never really got into that trade.  
  
Luna walked over to her sofa and set the package on the table, and sat down while Tanya sat next to her on the couch.  
  
After several seconds of staring at the box, Tanya impatiently said, "Open it already!"  
  
Luna nodded and opened it. Inside were a smaller box and a letter on top. She set the letter aside and looked at the small box. It was wooden, painted a light green, and had a bunch of designs on it, which mostly involved a Triforce. She noticed that it was the human version of the Triforce.  
  
Humans perceive more of the Triforce than Hyrulians. They believed that it consisted of five triangles, not three. They saw one big one and four smaller ones inside it. The human Triforce had a black outline of the outer triangle, the center triangle was silver, and the top-most, the left-most, and the right-most triangle were all golden. It's somewhat different than the Hyrulian's Triforce, but not much. The center piece has been missing from history, because the Goddess of Eternity has not yet been born. It was also said that the Goddess would be of human heritage, and once it was born it would join with its sister Goddesses to create the Goddess of Whole, a goddess who would bring a great blessing to Hyrule, and set humans to their rightful place among the races.  
  
It is because of this belief that humans are put down at every chance possible. This belief has made humans righteous but meek, mainly because they think they must be lead to be great. And because of that meekness, Hyrulians have taken over Hyrule and treated humans as slaves. The very few that think they can take care of themselves without the help of a great prodigy, are free humans. Free humans are treated like traitors from the slave humans, treated like worthless crap from Hyrulians, but are treated as equals from the other races, except Gerudos. The Gerudos are a generally bias race anyway, so they always treat anybody, that isn't a Gerudo, like a non-person, especially men.  
  
There was a human Triforce on each side of the beautiful light green box and a frame of a rose vine around the edge of each side of the box as well. Everything was carved into the little wooden box, which had to have been hard to do.  
  
She looked at Tanya, who said, "I think you should read the letter first."  
  
Luna nodded and took hold of the dark green letter. It felt as though it was made of silk, but it had to be paper. As she undid the blood red seal, which had a picture of a willow tree and a Triforce engraved on it, the envelope fell off and left her a piece of folded, leaf green paper in her hands. The envelope had fallen off like a liquid, and Luna looked down to find that it had turned into a forest green, satin handkerchief which had fallen to the stone floor.  
  
Tanya picked it up and said, "A wizard must have sent you the package... probably a nature wizard."  
  
All Luna could do was nod in agreement and unfold the paper. Magically, the words were read out loud in a deep male voice:  
  
"Dear human Gerudo, It is time for you to return to your home, the place where you were born. It is time for you to realize your destiny and to meet the person who brought you to your sister Gerudos. I have no idea what your name may be, but I do hope this letter reaches you. I miss that cute face of yours, and I'm sure you have turned into a grand woman. Please come to the Lost Woods, and your guide shall meet you. You may bring as many people with you as you wish. I do hope I meet you again soon.  
  
With sincere hope to see you again,  
A Druid of Nature, Newt"  
  
Both of them were stunned at the request made and also that the letter talked. Just as Luna was about to comment, she was interrupted by the loud male voice again:  
  
"P.S. Do not worry—I don't expect to see you before the end of the Hero Games. Finish whatever it is you're doing before you come to see me."  
  
"Good thing he said it. I was going to insist you stay 'till the Games were over," Tanya said to the stunned Luna.  
  
"Aren't you the least surprised at what happened? He said that I was born in the Lost Woods; how can that be possible?" Luna said aghast.  
  
"He didn't say that."  
  
"Not in the same sentence, but he still implied it. Look where it says, 'it is time to return to your home, the place where you were born' and then where it says, 'please come to the Lost Woods'."  
  
"Well, maybe you were born beyond the forest, and he'll lead you the rest of the way. Just because he says to meet him in the Lost Woods doesn't mean you were born there. Unless he says it directly like, 'it is time for you to return to the place you were born, the Lost Woods' I wouldn't panic."  
  
"Well, so what? This guy could have made a mistake. How in the world does this guy know that I'm the person he's looking for? This could just be a big misunderstanding."  
  
"Don't tell me that Luna the fearless Gerudo is already chickening out. Even if it is a mistake, we should go anyway and see if you're the one he's looking for."  
  
"But we don't know the way," Luna said trying to find a reason not to go.  
  
"Don't worry; I'm sure there's somebody who knows the way. Let's go to the bar and ask."  
  
"Hang on; let's look at the box more closely."  
  
"It's just a box with a bunch of designs on it, probably just for decoration. But put it in your cupboard anyway; you know this fort is full of thieves. Besides, I just remembered that my mom wants us to entertain the 'pigs' at her bar."  
  
Luna nodded and looked for the key to the cupboard. Once she found it in the frame of the picture of her when she was three, she stuck her box, her handkerchief, and her letter in the cupboard. She then put the key to in a new spot: in the frame of the picture of her foster mother.  
  
Tanya headed to the back and yelled out "Don't you want to get changed?"  
  
So Luna followed her to the back, and picked out the perfect outfit while Tanya borrowed some of Luna's clothes. Tanya got finished putting her make up on first, so she headed to the door first.  
  
"Let's go already," Tanya yelled holding the door open.  
  
"Okay, okay, but remember I come out in the finale this time," Luna said rushing out the door and heading toward the exit of the building, while Tanya shut the door, locked it, and quickly followed after, saying under her breath, "Aren't the pigs going to get a surprise tonight?" 


	6. The Dancer

The Dancer...  
  
"C'mon Jak, it's time to celebrate getting past round one," Patch said eagerly as jogged to the Phoenix Pub, the main pub of the Gerudo Fortress.  
  
"Okay, but just a few drinks; I don't want a hangover at round two," Jak replied hurrying alongside Patch.  
  
"Oh, c'mon, you know you can't resist good Gerudo beer," Patch urged him.  
  
"Forget it. You're not going to drink much either; I wanna win, not lose."  
  
"Fine, Mom," Patch said sarcastically as he opened the door to the pub for Jak, and then followed after him.  
  
The place was in a ruckus, and not only because of the games, but also because the Gerudos always party hard whether there was something to celebrate or not. In the center was where everybody danced, to the left in a small corner was where some Zora band played music, and to the northern left were the bathrooms, all of the right was where everyone sat, talked, drank, and threw up on the sofas, to the southern right was the bathrooms, and straight ahead beyond the dance floor was the bar. Only during the games were there Gerudos who danced on the bar, but no one was there.  
  
"That was odd," thought Patch who followed Jak as he was going through the crowd to the bar.  
  
The bartender, a very pretty Gerudo with odd blue eyes who's name (according to Jak) was Rita, stood up on the bar and the band stopped playing their music, the people stopped dancing, and people who were throwing up stopped vomiting. She wore tight black pants that had flames up the sides, and wore a black mid-drift shirt that had a flame coming up the center and up the back. Her long, red hair had black ribbons going through it making it seem like it was a flame itself.  
  
"Alright, I know everyone has been waiting for the show to go on, and now that all my girls have arrived, let it start," she said stepping off the bar and the music started up again, except it was a different tune than before.  
  
A girl dropped from the ceiling and landed in a perfect split on the bar. She was also a pretty Gerudo, with pretty red hair in a pony tail that was wearing black leather outfit with pants and a mid-drift shirt as well. She did some fancy moves, which involved a lot of back flips, twirls, and splits, all of which were timed to the beat of the music.  
  
Soon another girl fell from the open ceiling as well. Patch recognized her as the Gerudo that hung out with that human. She was wearing an outfit that matched the first girl's outfit, even the hair was the same, the only way you could tell who was who was by their eyes; the human's friend had blue eyes and the first girl to fall from the ceiling had yellow eyes. And soon, they started dancing again, more involved with lifting each other, and making back flips over one another's sweeps. As they did a flip that passed one another and ended up on opposite sides of the bar, four lit torches fell from the ceiling, dangerously twirling. Both of them caught two torches in mid air and started twirling them.  
  
It looked amazing, and as they did a flip past one another, one more girl fell from the ceiling and nearly landed on the two girls in mid-flip. She landed perfectly in the center in a kneeling position, as the other two landed in kneels on opposite sides of the bar. It was the human! She was wearing a white outfit that showed much more than the black outfit the two other girls were wearing; the mid-drift shirt was very low cut and had cuts through the back of the shirt, and the pants had a bunch of cuts through them, but it looked stylish, not ragged.  
  
The two girls attacked her with their torches, but the human dodged every single one gracefully. Soon, both Gerudos did a back flip to the end of their side of the bar, and threw their torches at the human. She dodged them using graceful flips, and they went to the Gerudo at the opposite end of the bar of their owner. They once again threw the torches at the girl, but this time the human caught them all in a twirl, and then did some awesome torch balancing with all four, and then started to twirl again and threw the torches back to their owner's. As she had stopped twirling, two broadswords fell from the ceiling. She held out her arms dramatically, and as the swords barley passed her arms, she caught them and started to twirl them in her hands.  
  
The music's beat took a great upturn as the two Gerudos moved in on the girl in the center, their torches always twirling. The human lowered to her knees, and stuck her swords into the bar, reached behind her and threw a liquid upon the bar. She put both hands on the swords that were in the bar and lifted herself to an upside down position with her back toward the audience, and with her hands still on the swords. She pulled her right sword out and made a twirling movement with it, still holding herself up with the other sword. Both of the Gerudos started to attack her but she fended them off with the sword, finally cutting all four in half and letting them fall on to the bar, which lit it on fire. Both of the Gerudos jumped off at that precise moment, but the human remained, jumping off the left sword and landing upright on the bar. She pulled out her sword and started dancing on the fire. As the music made its final beats, she started juggling the swords, slowly going higher. And finally, she threw one sword really far up and water fell, extinguishing the fire. She was drenched but managed to catch the sword in mid-air and flipped backwards out of view.  
  
There was a loud applause, cheering, and people asking for an encore, Patch included. He was actually hoping that the human would once again come into view from behind the bar, but she never did it before the bartender stepped onto the bar and made another announcement. "I'm glad you all enjoyed our performance, and they will be performing for every weekend of the Hero Games. And if anyone wants to meet our performers, they shall see them in the Games. Their names are: Jackie (she stood up on the left side of the bar), Tanya (she stood up on the right side of the bar), and our best swordswoman, Luna! (she flipped out from behind the bar right in front of Patch and Jak to greet a tumultuous applause from the audience, but not Jak)"  
  
At first Patch was curious whether or not she meant to land in front of them, but it became obvious when she looked shocked to see them.  
  
"Uh, h-hello there," she said shakily.  
  
"You did a great job... I wish I could do that with swords," Patch said with a nasty look from Jak.  
  
Luna obviously noticed Jak's nasty look, but continued in spite of him, "I would be happy to show you any time you want." Patch loved to piss off Jak, so he said, "Well, how about now? I have all night."  
  
"I'm sorry, but he can't. He has to get his sleep for tomorrow's match, but I'm sure you wouldn't understand that," Jak said sneeringly.  
  
"On no, I understand perfectly. He is a Hyrulian after all... besides daylight is a much easier time to practice. I'll meet you after your second round, alright?"  
  
"I'd be delighted," he said smiling at Jak, "if only you would let Jak, who is posing as my mother tonight, joins us as well."  
  
She gave Jak a calculating look and answered before Jak could, "I'll see you then," and walked off toward the right side of the bar.  
  
"I think she likes you," Patch laughed.  
  
"Yea well, hell will freeze over before I join you two in 'practice'"  
  
"I might be planning something more, but if you didn't notice, she was going to say she rather hump a pig than see me tonight."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Because, I could read it in those pretty green eyes. Besides, if she wasn't going to slap me in those next couple of seconds, she would prove that blondes really are dumb," Patch laughed.  
  
Jak just nodded as his friend ordered drinks from the bartender. Jak was thinking about tomorrow. He might have a chance to actually kill a human, but Luna was likely to bring a friend for protection anyway. That would be a little hard to explain if there were witnesses there too. Besides, he wasn't quite sure if Patch would be on his side if he did. He still couldn't believe Patch would dare flirt with a human, of all the races. And Jak had a feeling that Patch liked the human more than he showed. As he went to stare after where the human had disappeared, he was swiftly reminded of his little cousin, Princess Zelda. He was half surprised that the girl wasn't here yet. Or maybe she was, but she was in disguise. "Yea, that'd be more like her," Jak thought as he emptied his drink. He might actually see her tomorrow, now that he was going to look.  
  
Then realizing what the time was, and how many drinks that Patch had, he stubbornly insisted that they go to the Corona's Inn. Patch put up a fight, but Jak slowly got Patch to come with him to the inn. As he left, he noticed a shadow over by the band's raised platform. When he looked, no one was there. Assuring himself that he was tired, he pushed Patch out of the bar, and into the inn, where he also shoved Patch all the way to their room and onto Patch's bed, where he in turn fell on his own bed, thinking of the human, Luna. 


	7. Sheik and Her Cousin

Sheik and Her Cousin...  
  
Finally certain that Jak and his friend had left, the Sheikah removed herself from the shadows of which she hid. Earlier at the Din Inn, she had been careful to make herself as unrecognizable as possible. She had dressed in a tight red tank top, with tight black pants, black gloves, black hunting boots that were quite stylish for the occasion, had her hair dyed a reddish-brown and tied in a braid that went all the way to the bottom of her shirt, and had also used her magic to alter her eye color to red instead of blue.  
  
Walking, she noticed that many people stared, but she ignored them. She wanted to talk to him, and it was important that she did. Spotting him at the bar, she wasn't the least surprised of what he was wearing: his usual dark green tunic with dark green shorts, a long hood-like hat, with his broadsword equipped to his waist, a shield, bow, quiver full of arrows and his pack equipped to his back.  
  
When she reached him, the girl sat in the stool next to him and gave him a look of complete lust and said in a little girl voice, "Why, hello there big boy."  
  
"Oh stop it," said the tall, blonde, fourteen-year-old, boy who looked up from his Lilac Wine, "if you wanted me that bad, you would have cornered me earlier."  
  
"Come off it. You know I was just teasing you," she said, her voice its normal tone, as she smiled girlishly which added a few stares, "So, how long are you here for?" the girl inquired quickly, still ignoring the crowd.  
  
"'till the Games are over, or at least 'till my section of the tournament is over," he said looking back down at his purple drink.  
  
"And that would be?"  
  
"Archery."  
  
"Really? I thought you would have gone for melee combat."  
  
"Well, that doesn't start 'till after the tag-team tournaments and you know I've already signed up for it."  
  
"Well, I guess I'll sign up for it too," she said, but paused when the boy gave her a look that suggested he was going to ask if she was even in the Games yet, but she answered him before he could open his mouth, "I'm currently in the Dagger-Throwing Tournament."  
  
After motioning to the bartender and ordering a Blue Ice, she gave a calculated look at the boy, "Well,"  
  
"Well, what?"  
  
"Aren't you going to say anything about my disguise? Any rude or snide comment at all?" she said as grabbed her ice-cold, blue drink from the bartender and looked back at Link, "I think every man, except you, has something to say about my outfit."  
  
"They think that you are out right beautiful, and are wondering where they have seen you before, but I guess just you and I know who you really are, huh Zel?" he said returning her gaze with a smile.  
  
"It's Sheik for now, and you know I wouldn't dream with going anywhere with any of them, especially since they think I'm twenty-seven not fourteen."  
  
"You're fourteen? Who would've guessed?" the boy laughed.  
  
"You know how old I am, Link, especially since Impa constantly reminds you."  
  
"Yea, well," he said before draining the last of his drink and then turned to look at her very seriously, "I think you know I'm not here just because of the Games, and you wanna help me, right princess?"  
  
Sheik just nodded and took a gulp of her drink; she was surprised he had gotten to the point so quickly.  
  
"I need help finding someone, a human girl."  
  
"Well, that shouldn't be so hard," Sheik laughed.  
  
"Yea, but we can't go up to just anyone and say, 'Where were you born?' and then expect them to answer us truthfully."  
  
"Who sent you to look for this human, Link?"  
  
Pausing to ask the bartender for another drink, Sheik could tell Link was thinking about what he should tell her. How much would he reveal?  
  
Finally, he responded: "I can't tell you, and I can't tell you why either, so don't bother asking."  
  
"Well, how will I know when I find her?"  
  
He didn't answer, but instead looked around quickly, and shook his right hand. Sheik understood perfectly what he meant, so she abruptly changed the subject.  
  
"Did you see my cousin?"  
  
"Yea, I saw that bigot, but I made sure he didn't see me. Rita doesn't need anymore ruckus than what she's got," he said shiftily, glad that the subject changed. "You told me that you'd tell me why your cousin is so harsh on humans when I was older, and that was four years ago, so tell me."  
  
She thought about it a moment and said, "Only if you promise to teach me how to use a boomerang," and held out her hand. When Link shook it, she drained the last of her drink and started, "You know that my dear cousin was actually adopted into the family, right? Well, I never told you how he became orphaned. He had been only four, that was fourteen years ago, when his family's slaves decided to rebel.  
  
"His father and mother had been bigots to begin with, but Jak hated every human after what those humans did. When Jak's father and mother refused to free them, they turned and got violent. They took their masters' whips and backed both of them into the slave house, of which dwelt a creature. The humans did not see it though, so they locked the door once Jak's parents had been backed inside, and the monster revealed itself.  
  
"Jak tried to fight off the slaves to open the door, but he was knocked out in the struggle. When he awoke, there was blood everywhere, and no one else was around. He had been stranded. He decided to take a horse, and ride into town to tell the Hyrulians, all the while still shocked that his parents were most likely dead. When he reached the horse stable, he heard something behind him, and he knew what it was before he looked. He ran into the stable and untied the horse, but it got him in its claws. He reached out a grabbed a horseshoe hammer, and used it on the giant claw. The monster screamed and Jak, bleeding, jumped on the horse and rode it bare-back out of his mansion, and towards town, as fast as possible. He told everyone the story, but very few believed him. When he refused to go home, they threw him in the orphanage, and the next day my father's sister adopted him.  
  
"After that, he never repeated the story to anyone, but me. He blames the humans, because they were the ones who put his parents in the cage, so any free human he sees he treats like shit, hoping that they are at least descendants of the killers. And if that isn't bad enough, he still has the scars from the beast to remind him."  
  
After a couple of seconds of silence in which the bartender handed Link another Lilac Wine, Link finally asked, "What was that monster, though?"  
  
"He said it was a Shadowbeast, the doglike horror that rarely leaves the fortitude of the Lost Woods." 


	8. The Guide

The Guide...  
  
Reflecting, Link thought about the Shadowbeast. He heard stories about it, but weren't they just stories? He traveled the Lost Woods more times than he cared to count, but he never encountered the monstrosity. According to legend, it only appeared where 'children of death' were born. 'Children of death' were babies born only through killing the mother. And, supposedly, the only way to counter curse it was to kill the child within 100 feet from the body of its mother, within the hour the child was born. But, of course, that was just a couple of wives' tales, right?  
  
"Listen, Link, I need to get some sleep tonight, so I'll see you tomorrow at the Gerudo training center, after the Hero Games," Sheik said abruptly, getting up to leave.  
  
"Alright, 'night then," Link sighed under his breath as she headed toward the exit. Planning to call it a night too, he stood up, but somebody stood up on the bar and everyone quieted down. The girl was a very pretty blonde with startling green-gray eyes, and he noticed her as the sword dancer from earlier.  
  
"Hello there, and I hope you liked our performance," she paused to the heap of applause she got and then started again when it died down, "as you might know, my name is Luna and this announcement has nothing to do with the bar, so don't panic; we are not closing. It is just that I'm going on a vacation and I need to go to the edge of the Lost Woods so I can get there. I don't know the way, and I need someone to lead me and Tanya there at the end of the Games. So who'd be willing? Please raise your hands and tell me your price."  
  
He saw about an eighth of the crowd raise there hands, he among them. This was the human he was looking for; he knew it. His hand burned when she had started to speak, so if that didn't indicate that she was the one, he didn't know what did.  
  
"Man in the purple vest? Yes, you," Luna said to the man to the far right of the room.  
  
"One hundred-twenty-five rupees" he said.  
  
"You in the red hat"  
  
"One hundred-fifteen rupees"  
  
"You in the blue shirt"  
  
"One hundred"  
  
"You with the flashy sword sheath"  
  
"One kiss"  
  
At this, a whole bunch of people laughed childishly and everyone, except Link, put their hands down.  
  
Link noticed that the girl had looked worried when the man with the flashy sword sheath asked for one kiss, but she smiled when she noticed Link's hand, "You in the dark green tunic, can you offer something better?"  
  
"I'll do it for free," Link yelled as everyone else turned to stare at him.  
  
"Really?" said Luna as she stared too.  
  
"Yes," he nodded.  
  
"Alright then," she said getting off the bar and started walking towards him. In the mean time, the band started playing again, and the people returned to what they were doing. When she reached him, Link noticed a Gerudo was trailing her. Holding out her hand, Luna said, "Hello there, I'm Luna and this is Tanya," she pointed to the girl behind her, "and we'll be the ones asking for your services. You will do it for free, right?"  
  
"I said I would, didn't I?" Link said smirking.  
  
"Right then," Luna turned towards the bartender, "Rita, could you give me a Dying Phoenix," and then seated herself in Sheik's abandoned stool.  
  
"Make it two," Tanya said as she sat in the seat beside Luna.  
  
"Give me a sec," Rita said as she got the stuff for the drink.  
  
Link watched the bartender prepare the drink as he gruffed, "The name's Link."  
  
"Like I said, all we need to do is get to the edge of the forest. You think you can do that?" Luna said sizing him up.  
  
"I don't know Luna, he looks awfully scrawny to be a guide," Tanya said sizing him up as well.  
  
"You shouldn't judge someone on their looks, Tanya. I'm betting that I could take you on in anything, and beat you" Link boasted.  
  
"Oh, really? Then I say you take me on in drinking. I'm the best at it, other than Luna of course," Tanya challenged.  
  
"Here you go," Rita interrupted, passing Luna and Tanya their drink, which was a red liquid that was flaming at the top.  
  
"Don't go anywhere yet. I have a challenge from our guide. He wants to beat me at drinking; you think you could put it on my tab," Tanya said to the bartender, and then took a full swig of the drink.  
  
Link was slightly impressed the girl could drink a flaming drink without blowing it out first, but he said, "I'll beat you first and then Luna."  
  
Luna laughed, but nodded and took a gulp of her drink too. She then spit out fire (a whole bunch people backed away) and said, "This will be fun, but you still gotta be our guide, 'kay?"  
  
"I'd love to. So let's get to it then," and then gestured to the bartender, who brought twenty filled shot glasses to their part of the bar.  
  
"Move Luna, I wanna watch him fall," Tanya said brassily and switched spots with Luna. Noticing that a crowd had gathered around them, he tried to ignore them and took a drink of the beer when the bartender counted to three. 


	9. Drunk

Drunk...  
  
They probably went seventeen rounds when Tanya passed out. People had been shouting Link's and her name, and clapped loudly when Tanya fell off her stool. Smiling, Link looked at Luna and said, "It's your turn."  
  
"I can't believe you beat her, but I'll avenge her, don't worry," Luna said taking Tanya's seat as the bartender pulled Tanya to the back room.  
  
Luna looked around at the crowd and then pointed to a Gerudo who had been dancing earlier, "Will you please count while I beat him?"  
  
They just had three rounds of shots left, so they would have to wait for the bartender when she returned. So the girl started counting, and two rounds later the bartender returned and set down twenty more drinks when they finished round three. She then set twenty more drinks down when they finished round twenty three. Luna and Link were very drunk, and it was just a matter of time before one of them fell off their stool...  
  
"Ouch," Link said as he fell off his stool and fell to the floor.  
  
Slightly less drunk than Link, Luna held out her hand and said, "I'll help you to your inn."  
  
"Thanks," Link said as he gripped her hand and stood up. As he started to walk, he stumbled drunkenly, so Luna put his right arm around her shoulders and helped him out.  
  
Out of the noise, the stares of eyes, and the crowd, Link said embarrassed, "Thanks for the help, but I can't stay at any of the inns. I didn't have a reservation, so I sleep out here."  
  
"That's okay, why don't you sleep on my couch? I can't let my guide sleep out in this dust storm," Luna said changing the course of her footsteps.  
  
"Aren't you worried about Tanya?" Link asked her as he stumbled.  
  
"No, her mother will take care of her," Luna said as she regained their balance.  
  
"Her mother? You mean her mother actually let's her teenage daughter drink that much?"  
  
"Actually, she was serving the drinks. She's the bartender."  
  
"Wow, she looks like she's barely twenty-three," Link said surprised.  
  
"No real Gerudo looks their age, Link. And even though I am human, I'm actually fourteen, not eighteen, like I'm sure you thought."  
  
"Me too, I mean I'm fourteen too." Link said as he noticed them slowing their pace slightly.  
  
"Really? Then, how do you know how to get to the Lost Woods?" she said noticing than her building was only a block away.  
  
"I grew up there, actually. I just can't go back inside without getting lost. Unless..."  
  
"Unless what?" Luna said looking at him.  
  
"Unless I can find a friend of mine, but you really don't want to know about that so..." Link said trying not to look at her.  
  
Noticing that they had accidentally passed her building she turned them around and said, "Oops."  
  
"I can't believe you passed your building," Link said smiling at the change of subject.  
  
"What can I say? I'm blonde."  
  
Link laughed as she helped him up the steps of her building. They had gone two floors when he asked, "How much further is your room?"  
  
"It's two more floors, but I gotta take a break right here," Luna said sitting Link on the steps before she continued, "I'm dizzy," and then sat down opposite of Link.  
  
"I thought it was just me," Link said smiling.  
  
"Din, he has a sexy smile," Luna accidentally thought aloud as she smiled back.  
  
"You too," Link said back.  
  
Reddening slightly, she added quickly, "Did I say that out loud? I really must be drunk. You know what?"  
  
Link looked at her as she stood up and said, "What?"  
  
"I saw you as I was dancing. You were so dark and mysterious, just my type. I was sure I would have to beat you, and look, I did," she said smiling and holding out her hand.  
  
"You were magnificent on stage. But I bet I could beat you in any spar match, anytime," Link challenged as he gripped her hand once more.  
  
"You know I'm supposed to show some pigs some of my moves after my match tomorrow. You wanna show me then?" she said as they helped each other up to the next floor.  
  
"I'd enjoy it, but I'm supposed to meet someone tomorrow. Would you mine if I brought them too?"  
  
"Not at all. The more the merrier, I say," Luna said, leading Link to her door on the fourth floor corridor.  
  
"It's a date then," Link said as Luna unlocked the door to her room.  
  
"I can't date though. It's Gerudo law; one cannot date until one has reached the age of sixteen," she recited as she opened the door and shut it behind her, all the while supporting Link.  
  
Link looked around and said, "Nice place, but you don't have to date me. We can just be friends."  
  
"We don't have much choice, do we? I can't wait 'till Nabooru finds out that I let you up here. Boy, will I be in trouble," Luna said as she set Link on her couch.  
  
"Whoa, what a rush," Link said as he clutched his head, but looked up at Luna who was bending over him, "you have really pretty eyes. Like two giant storms. They are so pretty..." Link said, slowly leaning toward her and kissing her. Luna was stunned, but amazingly returned the kiss until Link fell back on the couch, asleep.  
  
"He's a good kisser," Luna thought as she looked at the unconscious Link. "What are you thinking? He's a Hyrulian! You can't go kissing Hyrulians before you're sixteen," she thought as she grabbed a pillow and blanket angrily from her closet. Setting the pillow on the right arm of the couch, she thought, "But he's so different. It's as if he not one of the men the Gerudos speak of. 'The Gerudos' they're my race, so why was I thinking in third person?" Pulling Link further on the couch so his head rests upon the pillow, she thought, "I'm in so much trouble. Someone's bound to know that I brought him up here. Wait a minute... I'm thinking rationally. I'm not drunk. So, I kissed him when I was sober! Din, I'm in trouble." She then pulled off his hat and took off all his equipment and put it on the table. After that, she pulled the blanket on him, stared at him a moment longer, snapped out of her reverie and went to her room, closing the door quietly behind her. Unclothing herself, she thought, "I hope Nayru will give me the wisdom to figure out what the hell I'm going to do!" she then slipped on her silk bathrobe and got into bed. When turning out the lamp and drifted toward sleep, she thought, "I don't know why you gave me the courage to do that, Farore, but please give me the courage to defy Nabooru tomorrow. I may have to fight her..." 


	10. I Found Her

I Found Her...  
  
Link was walking down a dark hall. Reaching a fork in his pathway, he didn't know which way to go. Calling out to Luna, he vainly hoped to hear her so he could find the correct path, but her response sounded so far away. Knowing he would not make it in time, link recklessly ran to where he was sure Luna must reside just beyond the corner. Reaching another fork, he heard her from the right, but it was more of a scream than anything else. He ran toward the screams, taking every fork without thought. When he reached the clearing, he found Luna clothed in white robes, and bending over with her arms tied behind her back, and he saw a dark winged figure raise an axe above its head. "That's Luna's executioner!" his mind screamed at him to do something, anything. He frenziedly ran for the figure, but it had already brought the axe upon the Luna's neck. The head rolled to his feet, and he fell to the floor in shock. He then looked up at the executioner and could almost tell who it was when the figure said, "Link, wake up!"  
  
Link awoke with a start. It had been a dream, just a dream... but it had been so vivid. He looked around and noticed he was in Luna's apartment and a dark figure was looming over him, in the twilight of morning.  
  
"C'mon! Get up before anyone finds out you're up here," he recognized that voice. It belonged to...  
  
"Sheik? Is that you?"  
  
"No, it's the tooth fairy. Of course it is knucklehead. You know you're going to get her in so much trouble."  
  
Link noticed all his equipment was missing and said, "Where's my stuff?"  
  
"If you once in your life bother to look, you would notice that your stuff is on the table, so get up and go."  
  
Too tired to retort, he got up and equipped himself, fumbling every so often. When his hat was secured to his head, Sheik said, "Finally, let's go!"  
  
"Wait. I have to let her know where I went. Do you have a lantern, parchment, and a quill?" Link said noticing how dark it was.  
  
"Here," Sheik passed him all that he asked for in a blink of an eye.  
  
"Where do you keep it all?" Link asked astonished.  
  
"That's my secret. Here, let me light the lantern for you," Sheik said taking it from him and lighting it with her magic, making the lantern glow with blue fire. Sheik decided to hold the light for Link while he attempt to write in the low lighting.  
  
Link put the parchment on the coffee table and wrote a quick note to Luna as Sheik held up the light. Link folded the parchment, put Luna's name on it, and left it on the table as he handed Sheik the quill. The items vanished as quickly as they had appeared.  
  
"You are going to have to tell me why I'm going to get Luna in trouble when we get outta here," Link said as he followed Sheik out of Luna's apartment and into the fourth floor corridor.  
  
"And you're going to have to tell me what you were doing up here when we get down, but until then, stay quiet; we don't wanna alert anyone of our presence," Sheik whispered to Link.  
  
They quietly sneaked down the steps until they reached the outside. Link then asked, "So what's the matter with me being up there. I remember her saying something about being in trouble, but I was drunk."  
  
"If you were drunk, shouldn't you have a hangover or something?" Sheik asked.  
  
"I've been drinking so much for so long, that I don't have the after affects of being drunk anymore, but you're dodging my question. Why?"  
  
"Because she is not allowed to even date, much less bring a man up to her room," Sheik said to Link angrily.  
  
"But nothing happened. I didn't—"  
  
"That was obvious when I found you on the couch, but that wouldn't be good enough for Nabooru," Sheik said cutting Link off.  
  
"Would it be good enough that I have this?" Link said and took something out of his pocket. It was a parchment signed by Nabooru, which said that he was of...  
  
"You're of the Gerudo clan? But how--when did you get this?" Sheik said in amazement.  
  
"You can read in the dark?" Link asked amazed.  
  
"That doesn't matter, just answer my question."  
  
"Four years ago, but does this really matter?"  
  
"Yes, it changes everything, but if you're not going to give me the details, just answer me one question."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why were you up there?"  
  
"Because she didn't want her guide to sleep outside," Link said grinning at Sheik.  
  
"What? Her Guide? But why?" Sheik asked taken aback.  
  
"Because she is the human I'm looking for," Link said as he headed out toward the Hero Games arena, Sheik following him still stunned. 


	11. Almost Late

Almost Late...  
  
"Luna! Wake up! You're going to be late for the second round!" Luna heard the familiar voice in her head.  
  
"Oooh, how can you be so energized in the mornings?" Luna said aloud knowing that Tanya had come up to wake her.  
  
"Why is there bedding set up on the couch? You didn't have him up here, did you?" Luna heard as she got up to grab some clothes from her dresser.  
  
"Yes, but nothing happened. Besides, he was going to be our guide and I just couldn't let him sleep outside," Luna said, dressing.  
  
"Yea, but you know it's against our rules. Nabooru's going to have your ass for this, and you know it," Luna heard as she stepped into the living room. Luna saw that Tanya was dressed in tight stretch pants, a blue tunic that matched her eyes, and a blue hair tie that held Tanya's red hair in a ponytail, and was wearing black leather combat boots that was excellent for the occasion.  
  
"I'll deal with her if I have to," Luna said, striding past Tanya to pick up the bedding.  
  
"Never mind that," Tanya said as she grabbed Luna's hand and started to drag her toward the door, "our match is going to start in twenty minutes, and I don't wanna be late."  
  
"Wait—" Luna said as she wrenched her hand away from Tanya and grabbed a piece of parchment off her coffee table, "it's a letter from Link."  
  
"Well, read it on the way! We need to go!" Tanya said as she grabbed hold of Luna's wrist again and dragged her out of the apartment.  
  
On the way out, Luna locked her door while reading Link's letter, which read:  
  
Dear Luna,  
  
I'm sorry I left without waking you. I just needed to be gone before anyone woke up. I hear that you will be in trouble for letting me up. You shouldn't risk yourself like that, but I'll happily defend you against Nabooru if need be. I don't know if you remember, because we were both drunk, but you said you would meet me at the Gerudo training center after the Hero Games today. I'll see you there with my friend.  
  
Your guide,  
  
Link  
  
"Hey, I forgot to tell you, but I'm supposed to meet those two pigs, Patch and Jak, after the Games today. I also invited Link and he's going to bring somebody too. I was hoping that you might—" Luna began.  
  
"Of course. I wouldn't leave you all alone with those men by yourself. Besides," Tanya grinned, "I need to redeem myself for yesterday. I'll teach Link a thing or two."  
  
"Don't tell me you like him?" Luna asked.  
  
"Don't you? Don't worry; I won't go after him if you want him. But of course, I am allowed to date him..." Tanya said jokily.  
  
"No, I insist. You can have him. I'm soooo not attracted to him," Luna lied.  
  
"I know you like him; don't lie to yourself. Anyway, we need to hurry, so let's drop it, 'kay?" Tanya asked, starting to run.  
  
They barely made it to the match; the referee was ready to call it forfeit. And when they faced off against the two Zoras, Luna noticed that Jak and Patch were watching them. 


	12. The Princess

The Princess...  
  
Patch had noticed since this morning that his friend was distracted. He had asked him about it, but Jak had just said it was nothing. Patch knew better. Jak was most likely looking for his rebellious cousin, Princess Zelda of the Hyrulian royalty.  
  
The last time Patch had seen her, she had been unhappily wearing her hated pink dress while trying to coax him into a spar with her. Jak and he were going to go to the Hero Games and Patch had been waiting in the entrance hall of the castle for Jak, when she had appeared. Coming right out behind a corner, Zelda was wearing a beautiful silk gown that her guardian had somehow gotten her into, she had her hair undone, and it was flowing behind her gracefully. Completely stunned, Patch had just gaped at her when she turned and smiled at him. That was when she started challenging him to a match, before Impa came down the stairs of course. Impa had been wearing her armor plate over her shirt like usual, was wearing black, tight, silk pants, along with black combat boots which went all the way to her knees. When Impa looked at him, he thought daggers would come out of the lady's cold amethyst eyes and stab him in the gut.  
  
Zelda was the first part Sheikah of her royal family, so she was taught the Sheikah martial arts by her aunt, her guardian, and the king's sister-in- law, Impa. She used to be one of the king's top generals, but she felt it was her priority to teach Zelda their heritage, principally because Zelda's mother had died when she was but a year old, so Impa resigned from her office. Impa is still Zelda's teacher, but that doesn't mean that Zelda will stay at the castle when she asks her to.  
  
Luckily for Zelda, she doesn't have to take the throne until her thirty- five-year-old father dies, especially since she is rebelling against her father at the moment. He's known Jak since he was thirteen, so it was inevitable that he would meet her as well. Although Jak isn't even Zelda's real cousin, they grew up together, making them more like sister and brother than anything else.  
  
And since Zelda loves the Hero Games, she's bound to be here while the rest of the country out looking for her. And since there are people looking for her, she will most likely be in disguise. What she normally looks like when: she doesn't die her hair, it's normally a beautiful golden blonde, and she has crystal clear blue eyes when she doesn't change them with her magic. One way you know it's her, it that she'll always look beautiful. And she has magic mainly because she has Sheikah blood in her, but also because the royal family is known for having sorceresses every three generations.  
  
He also wondered if Zelda's green-clad friend, Link, was here too. Goddesses know he'd be qualified. Maybe he should check the melee tournament for him? Nah, Jak wouldn't care much if he did. Jak hated Link, not just because he thought Link was nothing but a commoner, but mainly because he was highly protective over Zelda, like a big brother over his little sister.  
  
When Patch had finally gotten out of his deep thoughts and snapped back to reality, he noticed that Luna and Tanya had won their match against the Zoras, and Zoras are very hard to beat in free style combat. Zora fins can come off and act as boomerangs, and those things hurt, he knew because of his last match earlier that day.  
  
As a matter of fact, Luna had won that match by using the fins against them. When her opponent, Jazz, threw his fins at her, she caught them and threw them back at him. Jazz was obviously not at the Phoenix Pub last night. The match had been over with so quick, that Tanya and the other Zora never got a chance to fight.  
  
"Well, at least I don't have to wait any longer to get the spar over with," Patch thought as he and Jak left the bleachers to go wait for Luna and Tanya over at the arena entrance. The only reason Patch had brought Jak along, was because he thought that maybe Jak had changed his thoughts about humans. But it became obvious Jak hadn't changed his mind when Jak sneered when the subject of Luna came up.  
  
He never really knew why his friend hated humans so much, and he never asked because he believed that if Jak wanted him to know, he would tell him. That is probably another thing why people like him so much; he wasn't nosy. He was fun, sarcastic, charming and wasn't nosy; the perfect friend.  
  
And he hoped one day, that his personality would earn him a girlfriend. A real girlfriend, not someone you meet a bar and date for a week or two, somebody who he might fall for. And that was probably another reason why he was here; he hoped that Luna may consider him, even if Jak disapproved. He also found she was a lot like him too; fun, sarcastic, stubborn, but she was probably nosier than him. He found that they may be perfect for each other; he just hoped he would meet up to the beautiful, strong, green-eyed, loveable blonde's standards.  
  
"Hey guys! You ready or what?" Luna called out, snapping Patch back to attention.  
  
"We are, but are you ready to get your butt kicked?" Patch said when Luna and Tanya reached them.  
  
"I doubt you would get that far," Tanya the Gerudo said.  
  
"Why don't we get a move on? The sooner this is over, the sooner I can get on with real practice," Jak said sneeringly.  
  
Patch was only slightly surprised that Jak still felt like insulting Luna when Jak saw her outfit close up. Starting from the bottom, Luna was wearing black combat boots, dark green leather shorts, a dark green, silk top that showed a decent amount of cleavage, and her hair was tied back into a pony-tail with a green ribbon. Everything she wore emphasized her beautiful green-gray eyes.  
  
"Yes, why don't we? You guys aren't good enough to even exercise a muscle," Luna retorted while walking past Jak toward the Gerudo training center.  
  
Tanya hurried to catch up with Luna while he and Jak trailed them.  
  
"How in the world did you get me into this?" Jak whispered to Patch.  
  
"Hey, you don't have to be here," Patch stopped and grinned at Jak, "I don't mind hanging out with a couple of girls on my own."  
  
"I would happily leave you to flirt away with these two 'girls', but I want to prove once and for all that I'm better than that human," Jak whispered stubbornly.  
  
"What? You're only interested in fighting her! I hope to do more than that my friend," Patch said slightly amazed at his friend's one-track mind.  
  
"Is that all you ever care about? Just another perv in this big world..." Jak said knowing it would anger Patch.  
  
"That's not the only thing I think about, but it's a major thought on my mind. That doesn't make me a perv, Jak, it just makes me a normal boy with raging hormones," Patch noticed that they were getting closer to the training center. "That's another thing I don't get. Whenever you actually meet a pretty girl you like, all you ever care about is whether or not she likes humans. Don't you ever admire the way a woman walks or talks or, in a few cases, she fights? It's as if you killed your hormones before they ever came..."  
  
"I'm sorry that my hormones don't turn me into a giant womanizer like you, but they're still there. I just haven't met a girl I really like yet," Jak said knowing his friend was going to retort about the bit about womanizing, which Patch did.  
  
"I know I'm a little girl crazy, but that doesn't make me a womanizer! It just means I like the opposite sex, that's all."  
  
"If you ask me, I think you like the other gender more than you like your best friend."  
  
"Oh, come off it Jak! Promise me this, then. If she can beat you today, you have to start treating her with respect. But if you beat her, I promise I'll stop chasing after this girl, 'kay?"  
  
"Alright, you've got yourself a bet, then. But you're not gonna hold me back when we fight, got me?"  
  
Patch nodded happily. 


End file.
